Surah Ash-Shams

It is Meccan without dispute. Its verses are sixteen in the Meccan, Medinan, and others, and fifteen in the remainder.

When He, glory be to Him, concluded the preceding Surah by mentioning the People of the Right and the People of the Left, He, Majestic is His glory, brought back both groups in this Surah by way of summation, in His, glory be to Him, saying: "He has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who instills it [with corruption]," and in this: "And inspired it [with] its wickedness and its righteousness." This is like an explanation of His, the Exalted’s, saying in the former: "And have shown him the two ways," according to one of the two interpretations. He, glory be to Him, concluded the former with some of the states of the disbelievers in the Hereafter, and He, Majestic is His glory, concluded this one with some of their states in this world, saying, the Most Mighty of speakers:

Ash-Shams: (1) By the sun and its brightness

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

"By the sun and its brightness," meaning its light, as narrated by al-Hakim, who authenticated it from Ibn Abbas. The intended meaning is when it rises and its authority becomes established. Some scholars of research have stated that the reality of the Duha (brightness/forenoon) is the sun’s distance from the visible eastern horizon and its appearance to those who behold it; then, it became the term for its specific time. It is said that the beginning of the time is dahwah, that which follows it is duha, and that which follows that until near the meridian is daha (with a fathah and a lengthened vowel). When it is attributed to the sun, it is a metaphor for its radiance, as is the case here.

It is reported from al-Mubarrad that al-Duha is derived from al-Dahh, which is the light of the sun, and the alif is a substitute for the second ha', as is the waw in dahwah a substitute for it. Abu Hayyan critiqued this, saying, "Perhaps this is a fabrication against him, for al-Mubarrad is too great a scholar to subscribe to this, and these are two different roots, neither of which is derived from the other." It was replied that he did not mean small-scale derivation, and its status is not hidden from either the young or the old.

According to Muqatil, it means its heat, which is an interpretation through a consequential effect. It is also narrated from Muqatil that it refers to the entire day, but this is challenged by the fact that the Exalted swore by the day after this.